Say not being part of AI revolution is disastrous

By Adesina Wahab

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi and former Minister of Education, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili, have said providing quality and affordable education for the citizens of the country is compulsory if the country would not be left far behind by others.

They also noted that the country not being part of the Artificial Intelligence revolution and other evolving technologies would be disastrous in the end and would have dire consequences on the country and coming generations.

They spoke in Lagos on Saturday during the graduation of the 2024 class of Nexford University, NXU, a new generation online university based in Washington, United States.

Obi, who was the keynote speaker at the event,  said making qualitative education available for the citizens should not be a matter of if possible.

“Nigeria is a country that knows what to do but refuses to do it and today’s youths are victims of the lapses on the part of those who came before them. We have a system where criminals thrive. Education is taking a new course now. We have witnessed a lot of development in the sector in recent times. Artificial Intelligence, robotics and others are the in things now.

“The question now is are we part of the revolution? Are we preparing our youths for life of work in today’s world? During the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was taught what is needed to keep pace with the trend. The issue of providing quality education for the citizens is not a matter of if it possible we are going to do it. It is a matter of we must do it.

“Few days ago, the world marked the International Education Day. I visited some schools and there is no doubt we need to up our game. Education is not something we must toy with.  Leadership is not rocket science but it is difficult. It is difficult if one does not have strong character to resist doing the wrong things. Change is constant but difficult because people don’t want it,” he said.

On her part, Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education, commended Nexford University for providing opportunities for Nigerians to access quality education that is of global standards.

Speaking on the rave of the moment, Artificial Intelligence, AI, she noted that everywhere now, it is on everybody’s lips.

“The question everywhere now is how we are going to live with Artificial Intelligence, AI. I was in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum recently and somebody told me that with AI, a problem that could take 100 years to solve can now be solved in 10 years and that they are now working on using it to solve a problem that could take 1,000 years in 10 years. Are we part of this? She said.

The ex minister stressed that the world of work now is different from what people were exposed to a few decades ago and emphasized the need for an education system that would prepare youths for global competition.

Also speaking, Fadl Al Tarzi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NXU, commended the graduating students for their quest for knowledge and skills to compete globally.

Tarzi who commended Nigerian students for their resilience, urged the 2024 graduating students to showcase and deliver real-time solutions that would change the world.

He said, “We are really proud of our Nigerian students. Nexford will continue to help Nigerian students bridge skill gap to be able to fit into the real world job market place globally.

“We are excited that over 75 per cent of our students have achieved their goal of investment with the quality of the education and the value Nexford has afforded them.

Speaking on the Nexford plan for 2025, Tarzi said, “We are planning expansion geographically to be able to expand our community of learners globally.” 

Meanwhile, Oluwasegun Anuoluwapo Ogundiran, who finished with an impressive 4.0 CGPA was emerged as the Valedictorian of the Year for Class 2024.

Also speaking on the 2024 graduation, the Nexford Country Director, Oghogho Inneh, noted that the graduands emerged from various programmes, which include Undergrad – BBA, Post Grad – MBA, MSDT, MSDA and MSE. Oghogho noted that he MSE was launched last year, with potential to attract more uptakes.